The Walking Dead: Call to Arms
by MewLover54
Summary: The train gone and the group dwindled, they must find a new way to their safe haven while also fighting the forces of the Woodbury army. Rated M for language, violence and death. Pairings are Carl/Sophia Duck/Clementine etc.
1. Chapter 1

ML54: Shit I started this early!

Rick: Is there much point in you using cliff hangers if you're just going to post new chapters everyday?

Shane: This sequence seems familiar...

ML54: Yeah, this is going to be tough for some readers...I know it was tough for me to read and I fucking wrote it!

Sophia: This season will have one chapter on one group then the next on the other, so we're starting with our lone two kids, Duck and Clementine.

ML54: I don't own either Walking Deads.

**Familiar Faces**

Duck led Clementine through the forest, said girl clutching his hand like a life line. It had been about two hours since they got separated from the group and they've been travelling straight ahead for a the whole time.

Duck hacked through the vegetation with his blade. Clementine following like a faithful dog, trusting this boy with her life, considering the amount of times he had saved it.

See, this blade he had, was a replacement left hand. He had lost his original one when he took a bite for his crush and had to amputate it to clear the infection.

He trudged on, determined to find them a way to their group, or at least to shelter for the night.

Suddenly he heard a low growl and became more alert, looking to Clementine who had blushed, putting a hand on her stomach. "Sorry...I'm just a bit hungry..."

The ten year old's eyes widened further when he realised the true extent of their situation...They had nothing but his knife and their torn up clothes. No food, no water, no shelter...

He suddenly felt a lot more light headed, now realising how exposed they really were. "I-I'm Sorry Clem...I..." Clementine shook her head and put a strong face on for her best friend.

"I'll managed. C'mon, let's..." Suddenly, they heard a rustling and their attention snapped to the direction of the area it came from...

...suddenly a deer leaped from the bush.

The two let their guards down, but Duck had the idea to try and kill it for food...Sure it was cruel, but right now one deer against both their lives? It was a no brainer, really.

Just as he was about to try and jump it, Clementine approached it, her eyes lighting up in wonder. The pure life in the deer's eyes just compelling her closer.

Duck saw her reaction and suddenly felt very ashamed at what he was going to do...Clementine was a girl that wouldn't enjoy watching him gut a deer in front of her, she'd probably be scarred that little bit more than she already was.

The, now, nine year old girl rose her hand, in an attempt to pet the creature. The deer turned to look right into her eyes, in wonder of the person approaching it...it could tell that this person wasn't like the monsters it had seen earlier.

Clementine got three steps closer, the deer not moving before a loud gunshot was heard and the deer was struck dead...

...and the little girl felt a blistering pain in her shoulder.

"NO!" Duck screamed, seeing the bullet shoot through the girl, blood spurting from the new hole, before Clementine fell to the floor in a pool of her own blood. The bullet hitting the tree next to him.

Duck ran to her side and lifted her up in his arms, bridal style. Her blood starting to soak his already ruined clothes. He then saw a slightly overweight man walking down the hill for the deer presumably, a rifle in his arms, before spotting the two kids, the colour draining from his face.

Duck glared hard at the man. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!" He screamed at the man, clutching the wounded girl to his chest securely.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry!" He apologised in vain, seeing the stone cold glare Duck sent his way. "I-Is she still alive?!"

"She's not dying on me! She survived far worse than this!" Duck argued, despite knowing the untruthfulness of his statement. True she's been in situations that she could have been hurt, but not one where she HAS been hurt. Not to this extent!

"This way! Hershel can help!" Duck was about to follow before he froze.

"W-wait! Hershel Greene?!" The man nodded. Now Duck's situation had worsened ten fold! The last time Duck had seen Hershel, the man was grieving over Shawn and banishing them from the farm.

"_Fuck it!" _He thought to himself, chasing after the stranger, clutching the wounded girl in his arms, keeping his blade away from her. _"He has no reason to want Clementine dead! I just have to hope he's reasonable...or at least merciful..." _

* * *

After a short run, Duck, Clementine and the stranger, who's name was Otis, had made it to the familiar farm. Hershel was out on the porch, minding his own business, before he froze seeing the two familiar kids.

Once Duck had made it to the porch, Hershel glared at him. "Why the fuck are you here?!" Duck glared back, holding out Clementine.

"Me and Clem got separated from our group! And she was shot, by YOUR man!" A women from behind Hershel gasped.

"Otis!" She shouted, angrily at the man who was now panting, leaning against the banister. Hershel looked to the little girl and paled.

"Oh God, get her inside now!" Duck raced inside by Hershel's side and laid her down on the bed that the women, Patricia, said was spare. Clementine was now looking quite pale, but was still breathing.

"Shit! The bullet managed to go through, but she needs blood! She won't survive if we just close her wound!" Duck cursed, punching his lap, tears stinging his eyes. This can't be happening! She was the only one he had right now! She can't be dying!

Then his eyes snapped open with determination, remembering their discussion on the train yesterday when he was telling her his James Bond story...

...she had A positive blood!

"Me and her have the same blood type! Take my blood and I don't care how much you need!" Duck replied, determinedly, holding out his bladed arm. Hershel gasped when he finally noticed Duck's new arm, before remembering what was happening.

Patricia came in with a huge needle. God did Duck hate needles, but he wasn't going to let the girl he loved almost as much as he loved his dad die!

He grunted when the needle was plugged into his skin, and clenched his eyes shut as he felt the sensation of his blood being drained from his system.

Once the needle was full, the women removed it and Duck suddenly felt a little light-headed. Duck clenched his hair, which had grown out to be the length of Shane's at this point, with his remaining hand.

Hershel looked Duck over and saw how fucked up these two kids looked. They were both covered in cuts and bruises, Clementine had a gunshot wound, Duck was missing an arm and the two were ALONE!

"Where's Lee and your mom and dad?" Duck glanced down to the ground in sadness, finally safe enough to feel he can let his feelings out.

"M-My mom's dead.." They heard three more gasps and turned to see a young, blonde girl, a slightly older looking brunette and a young brunette man.

"Oh God...How?" Duck's eyes hardened as he held onto Clementine's hand, having not let go of it even while Hershel is stitching up the wound on her other shoulder.

"This man...He called himself 'Campman', to be honest I couldn't give a damn what he called himself...He shot my mom in the stomach and kidnapped Clementine here...I-I had...I had to finish it..." Hershel started to feel a little guilty now. Sure this kid got his son killed, but he was a clueless kid! It was an accident. He kicked these people, who were scared and in need, out into the world and it seems his decision had come back to bite him on the ass.

"...After that happened...I followed the man...I found him...And I killed him..." The group gasped at what he had said, not really expecting that kind of answer. His eyes the started to mist up. "But that's not the worst part..."

"What could possibly be worse than THAT?!" The brunette women exclaimed, having heard a kid admit that he had killed a man.

"...I don't even feel bad about it...The...T-the sickest t-thing was I a-actually enjoyed it..." Duck let his tears flow as he let go of the little girl's hand and untaped his blade to put his head in his hand and stump. "Am I an evil person? Like Goldfinger and Lex Luther? To kill with out feeling?!"

Hershel had grabbed the boy by the shoulders, after finishing his part of the stitching and getting Patricia to finish the job. "You listen to me son, you are not an evil person...This world we live in...It's got all our minds torn between what we think is right and wrong..."

"Then what does it make me?" Hershel looked into the boys eyes and saw many things. He saw sorrow, he saw pain, he saw greif and confusion, such a flurry of emotions...

"...It makes you ALIVE, son! It makes you ALIVE!" The man glanced back to see Patricia removing some of the girl's old clothes and taking off the girl's cap, to clean the cap and throw out the clothes. It will also help them get to the rest of the wound.

"Beth, why don't you show Duck here to the bathroom?" Beth, the blonde girl, nodded smiling to the ten year old in some form of comfort for him.

"Hi there Duck, I'm Beth. This is my sister, Maggie, and our farm hand Jimmy." The other two nodded and smiled, sadly to the boy as he and Beth left.

She led the boy to the bathroom and handed him some new clothes. "They were Shawn's when he was younger..." Duck flinched at the mention of Shawn's name. He doesn't like to think about the man, it brought back bad memories.

"Thank you..." Duck said, weakly, as if his own will to survive was being drained away. What if Clementine died? What if she turned and she bit Hershel or another one of his family? He can't put them through that again!

He stripped off his blood stained, ripped and ruined clothes, now realising who's blood that was predominantly...Clementine's.

The thought alone made him sick, but he suppressed it and quickly turned on the shower...Hot water...Duck let out a content sigh when he felt the warm water relieve his tense muscles, finally being able to relax a bit.

This was the first wash that Duck had had in, what felt like, forever. He used to hate having to wash himself, now he's not sure if he'd ever feel like leaving this place like it was an oasis in the middle of the dessert.

He thanked his lucky stars that the Greene's had dispensable soap, and got to rubbing the dried blood off his soiled skin...but no matter how hard he tried, he still felt her warm blood as if it was stuck there forever.

Duck punched the side of the wall in fustration, obviously doing no damage, but it felt good to let out some frustration. "After I got Shawn killed, Hershel is helping us, telling me I'm not a monster, actually caring whether anything has happened to us!" He let out out, blessing this family to the best damn cloud that God has.

He sighed, turning the shower off and drying himself with the towel on the towel rack on the side, rubbing his face and staring himself long and hard in the mirror...What was he?

Every decision, he decided, was basically orbited around Clementine's needs, everything he could do for her he would. If she had asked him to venture into a walker infested city for her cap, he'd do it blindfolded! If she'd only asked him too!

That's when he decided what he was...in love.

* * *

ML54: Alot of stuff for Duck to think on in this chapter...

Eliza: Poor Clementine...

Lee: *Rolls eyes* She'll live. ML54 would never kill off Clementine.

Kenny: Review please, but no flaming...We don't know what this guy'll do...


	2. Chapter 2

ML54: Hello all, as I said in my last chapter, this one will be about the rest of the group in the prison.

Sophia:Then the next will be back to Duck and Clem?

ML54: That's how it works. And this will have the moment most of you guys have been waiting for.

Daryl: Other than killing Lori?

ML54: Yup, I don't own the Walking Dead in any format.

**Safety Behind Bars?**

"There's the prison!" Shane declared, relieved to have finally found the place. Looks like Lee was right, it was only a short walk from the train tracks...not that they'll be going back there after the attack.

The group looked up in surprise and relief of the short trip.

The prison itself was quite large and had two chain linked fences that separated it from the outside world. It was an unhindered structure, not even a dent in the walls as if it was untouched...

...but there was a problem.

"There's a whole lot of walkers in there." Carly mentioned, noticing the mass of zombies, wandering around the courtyard, desperate to find their next meal.

"Let's just get through the first gate, there are no walkers in between the two fences." Shane ordered, having to lead the group after Rick had lost his wife and, quite frankly, looked like a wreck. Rick's eyes were red and tears were still slipping out from time to time. He was sort of running on auto-pilot, not noticing anything going on around him.

"Let's move then, there aren't many walkers surrounding the complex. Once inside, we'll work out how to dispatch the ones past the next gate." Glen agreed, wanting to get out of the open.

* * *

A lone walker turned to the left upon hearing footsteps towards it. Then had it's head caved in by a mallet in the hands of Shane who led the group to the first gate, quickly opening the unchained opening.

Once everyone was through, Shane slammed it shut and Glen chained it up as walkers had started to throw themselves onto the gate, trying to get at them with no success.

Shane did a quick head count. Himself, Eliza, Lily, Rick, Carl, Glen, Daryl, T-Dog, Carol, Sophia, Charlotte, Doc, Lee, Kenny and Carly.

He was about to look around for the other four, but suddenly remembered what had happened. They had lost Rally and Lori to the Woodbury Army and the other two kids had fell out the train and they had no idea whether or not they'd be okay or not.

The cop sighed and looked out into the prison courtyard...there were about forty to sixty walkers out there to his knowledge. So, if Lee, Kenny, T-Dog and Rick were up to it, they may be able to clear the area.

"Okay, Kenny, Lee, T-Dog, Rick, Daryl, Glen, Lily and I will unchain the fence and go into the courtyard and start to mop up the walkers out there. The rest of you create a whole lot of racket outside the fence and get them to follow it, once there, start to pick them off with your knives. Once that's done, we'll move inside and start clearing a cell block."

The rest nodded in anticipation except Rick who just stared blankly at the ground. Shane walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, causing the man to look up at him. "It's okay if you want to stay outside. But I'm sure we could use the help in there."

Rick glanced at the walkers inside, his eyes hardening. It was their fault that his wife was dead, their fault that their lives had gone to shit...all of it was their fault!

He pulled out his knife and gun, walking ahead of Shane. Ready to deal with these monsters...even if he had to do it himself!

* * *

"One...Two...THREE!" Shane yelled, before Doc used a pair of bolt clippers, he found abandoned on the ground, and the chain that was holding the chained gate shut fell to the ground, allowing the group in.

Once the gate was open, Rick ran through and the first walker he saw got a knife through it's eye socket. Most the walkers in the courtyard all wore the same blue jumpsuit except the few that wore guard uniforms.

They all turned to their fallen kin and saw a potential meal. Now the walkers were all limping towards the group, but any that got too close were all struck down with a quick strike to the head.

T-Dog was struggling though. He had said he was up for this, but his gunshot wound was definitely nagging at him that he wasn't.

He swung the hatchet round on the closest walker and cried out, clutching it as blood started to seep out through the bandages, dropping his weapon in the process. He fell to his knees, shivering at the pain, before the situation at hand dawned on him, seeing three more walkers approaching him.

Kenny saw too, however, and rushed over to help him. He shot the first two down, about to shoot the third before the worst sound possible rung out...

...'click'.

"Ah fuck!" Kenny shouted as the walker pounced on him, his arms thrown out to protect his head and neck. T-Dog got back to his feet and grabbed his weapon, but Kenny managed to flip him and the Walker over, so now he was on top and pulled out a wrench from his belt, hammering it into the walkers head.

"You took everything from me!" He vented, jumping up and smashing the next walker's brains out. "You took my wife!" Smack, another one. "My son!" Crack, and another. "My whole, fucking family!" Another one's head was caved in. "I'll kill you ALL!" He screamed, seeing red and killing everything undead in sight.

* * *

"Come here you undead fuckers!" The other half basically called out, trying to get the walkers over to the fence which worked for the most part. It definitely thinned them out for the others. Then the walkers that got too close got stabbed in the head, courtesy of Doc, Carol, Carly or Carl. The others just protecting the ones inside.

Eliza watched her 'mother' stabbing walkers that got too close left, right and centre, sighing. She wanted to be like her 'parents'. Being brave and and strong enough to help the group like this. It was just so...cool.

Sophia kept giving Carl sympathetic looks everytime he killed another walker. He kept getting this satisfied look everytime he threw his blade into one...it worried her.

Carol kept scanning the courtyard, making sure to warn the ones inside if any got too close, she was going to warn someone about T-Dog before Kenny rushed over, so she got back to the job at hand.

* * *

Soon, with their combined efforts, the courtyard was clear and they all got inside, Charlotte bolting the gate shut with a new padlock and chain that they actually had a key for.

They all went inside and cleaned out Cell Block B quite quickly, with the narrow corridors it was easy to dispatch walkers as they came.

Once they took the walkers out, they admired the new place. It was...well it was a start. "I guess it will do, I mean it's temporary after all." Doc said, off-handedly.

"We aren't leaving until we found Duck and Clementine." Carl declared, letting everyone know where he stood. "Well, I'm not at least."

"I'm wit' Carl..." Daryl agreed, having some sort of soft spot for the kids of the group. He doesn't know why, he just does. "We can' leave 'em ou' there."

"Alright." Shane agreed, Lee and Kenny looking up in hope. "We would have done the same for Sophia had she not found her own way back, it's only fair."

Kenny felt his spirits lift until he felt a pain in his side and grunted. Lee looked to his best friend in worry. "You okay, man?" Kenny nodded, lifting his shirt.

"Yeah, just a scratch..." Kenny looked and took on a face of horror, as did the rest of the group to see a chunk of flesh missing. "...just...a..." Kenny then fainted, Doc going straight to his side.

* * *

Doc was still looking Kenny over, even an hour later, as the rest of the group except Shane and Rick who went to clear some more of the prison, sat around. Carl and Sophia were a little ways away, Eliza was sleeping in Lily's arms and the rest were trying to talk...

...well console Lee at least.

The man had both his hands over his face in grief. He had already lost Clementine and Duck...now his best friend was dying.

Carly had her arm around him, trying to tell him that things were going to be okay, but how much of that was true? None of it. Their original group had eight people, herself, Lee, Lily, Ben, Katjaa, Kenny, Duck and Clementine.

Now it could possibly be just her, Lee and Lily.

She shook that thought from her head. "C'mon Lee, I'm sure he'll be okay."

"Yeah." Lily added, smiling comfortingly to her distraught friend. "You know how stubborn that guy is. He'll be up and looking for his son in no time." Lee let a small smile grace his lips. He was glad he had friends like these in times like this.

* * *

"Are you okay, Carl?" Sophia asked, looking at Carl giving her a 'what do you think?' kind of look. "Okay, dumb thing to say."

"I'm sorry...it..."

"You have no reason to be sorry, Carl." Sophia interrupted, grabbing his hand into hers, now noticing that he stood about two inches taller than her. "Have you gotten taller?"

"Huh?" Carl asked, looking to Sophia, now noticing that he wasn't looking up at her like he usually has too. "Oh yeah...must of had a growth spurt." Carl shrugged.

"Anyway, Carl I just want you to know that if you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here." She replied, Carl having looked in her direction again. She then got up, before Carl tightened his hold on her hand.

"Wait..." He said, causing the Peletier girl to turn to him again, this time he got up as well. The rest of the group were now looking at the pair curiously as well. Shane and Rick just entering.

"What's u..." Her response was cut off when he put his lips to hers.

Her eyes went as wide as saucers at how...forward Carl was being right now. But she soon got into it and wrapped her arms round his neck, kissing back.

* * *

"That's my boy." Rick said, smiling for the first time since the train incident. Shane let a grin spread to his face when he saw his best friend smiling.

Daryl grinned as well, turning to Carol who was holding another one of her 'that's so cute' faces. "No need fa any more schemes then."

She nodded, sighing. "I wish Lori were here to see this. She'd have been so happy." She then paused before adding. "Well, if I'm wishing for stuff, I wish I had a camera as well." Daryl chuckled at the women's attempt at humour, and to be fair, it was quite funny.

Doc walked in as well, just as the two parted. "I have good news. Kenny's wound was just him cutting himself on one of the broken windows in the corridor." Lee heard this and thanked God for his mercy on their group.

"However, it's best if he rests for a few days, it could get infected and I'd rather that didn't happen." The rest of the group nodded, Lee and Carly going to see the man and tell him the good news.

* * *

Sophia was blushing quite badly when the two parted, having just realised that they had just kissed in front of EVERYONE! Well, everyone but Doc and Kenny, but still! "C-Carl...Why?"

"Well...I have liked you for a while Sophia..." Carl admitted, blushing timidly. "...I told my mom and...seeing her d-die...I realised that that could happen to any of us...I just...I don't want to die regretting that I never told you..."

"I like you too, Carl..." She breathed out, giggling a bit. "But you could have picked a better place to kiss me." She said glancing to the group. "Everyone else just saw us."

Carl glanced over and smirked to her. "Who cares?" He said, kissing her again. She thought about before shrugging. No-one, she guessed.

* * *

ML54: I thought it was about time I got them together. It has been long enough.

Carol: Cute!

Daryl: Review please, bu' no flamin' or I'll kick ya' ass!


	3. Chapter 3

ML54: And we're back to Duck, Clem and the Greene family.

Beth: I was wondering when we'd get introduced to this.

ML54: Yeah, I had another run through the game when I saw that back story it gave to Hershel and why he has trouble trusting other people and thought it'd be interesting to bring you guys in.

Duck: ML54 doesn't own the walking dead and he knows that getting shot is very serious, but he likes to get tings moving quickly so Clementine seems to be able to recover ten times faster than anyone else.

**Trip to Town**

Duck groaned when he awoke the next morning, rubbing his back. He must of fallen asleep on the chair next to the bed Clementine was recovering on.

The night previous was quite hectic when he came out of the bathroom. Hershel had tried to feed him, but the ten-year-old could barely take a bite out of the sandwich without feeling sick. His worry for the girl causing bile to try and push through his gullet.

The boy looked at Clementine, who had a peaceful look on her face. It brought a small smile to Duck's face that she wasn't going to die. He put his hand to her face and moved some of her hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear.

He heard someone approaching and turned to see Beth, who smiled at him sweetly. "Hi Duck, good morning." He nodded back, turning to face Clementine once more.

"Good morning Beth..." He let his comment end the conversation as a peaceful silence fell on the room. Beth took a seat across from him.

Duck took one of the nine-year-old's hands, interlocking his fingers with hers. His mother used to say that it was a way for someone to know a friend was their when they were sleeping. "She needs a way to defend herself..." He whispered to himself, not knowing that Beth had heard him.

"Against what? There's nothing here that'll hurt us." Duck looked at her innocent face and sighed. It's strange how he's, like, six years younger than her, yet he was a lot more battle hardened by this world than her.

"Trust me, Hershel won't want us here..." He took a deep breath and decided to be honest. "...because I'm the reason Shawn died..."

"My dad already told us about that." Beth clarified, causing a confused expression to cross his face. "...but he won't make you leave. My dad's a good person." Duck smiled to her in agreement.

"Of course he is. I could never repay him for what he's done for me and Clementine." He decided to end the conversation there because he saw that the little girl was starting to wake up.

Clementine's eyes slithered open to their natural colour, flinching slightly at the light of the sun peering through the window. Duck saw this and quickly went and closed the curtains to dull the light a bit.

When the light was a little bit more controlled, the girl opened her eyes fully and they rested on Duck, who smiled half-heartedly at her. "Morning Clementine." She smiled back, going to sit up before a sting in her shoulder stopped her.

"OW!" She cried out, flopping back down. Duck ran over and rubbed her other shoulder soothingly. Tears stung her eyes a bit, before remembering what happened. "Are...are we d-dead?"

"Not yet..." Duck said, nodding towards Hershel who had heard Clementine cry of pain and had hurried downstairs. "Hershel saved you."

"Hershel? Hershel Greene?" She asked as said man entered her field of vision, smiling at her. "What h-happened?" She asked, horsely now as her dry throat came up and her stomach started roaring at her. She blushed in embarrassment, looking down to hide it.

"You got shot by this hunter called Otis when he shot the deer...So I picked you up and followed him here...Then Hershel brought you in here to fix your shoulder..." Duck explained as Beth came in with a glass of orange juice, another glass of water and a sandwich.

"Here you go. Try to finish this to keep your strength up." Clementine tilted her head to the side, confused at the new face. "Oh, I'm Beth. Pleased to meet you." The blonde girl smiled, causing Clementine's face to light up. Another friendly person.

"Hershel...Can I talk to you?" The old man nodded in confusion to Duck's question and the two of them went into the hallway.

"What did you need, son?" Hershel asked. Duck took a breath for what he was about to say, he still couldn't believe Hershel was being this friendly after everything that had happened.

"I need to tell you how we got separated from our group..." He paused, making sure that the white haired man was listening. When Hershel nodded for him to continue, Duck sighed. "We were attacked...by this army...I think I heard the word Woodbury..."

"Woodbury?" Hershel interrupted. "That's a town about twenty miles up the road. There's people there?" Duck nodded, scowling.

"Apparently not good people. I heard the train derail...I'm not sure if anyone else on the train is alive or not..." Duck looked up at him again. "But if they are, they'll be in the prison up the road...So I'd be grateful if, once Clem's better, you could drop us off near there and we'll be out of your hair for good...Or you could join our group."

"I appreciate the offer, but right now the farm is still holding strong. But I'm sure Otis will be more than happy to take you there, he's been killing himself trying to find something to make this right."

* * *

Duck walked outside, looking at a map he found in the front room of the house. Apparently there's a town not too far down the road, about a mile. It would, maybe, take two hours to look for supplies a get back if he skimmed the stores and didn't run into TOO many walkers.

He walked back into the house and wrote a note to Hershel, he knew Clementine would try and talk him out of it if he woke her up and told her...and he knew he'd cave and stay. But Hershel has used a lot of his own supplies to help them and Duck felt he should repay him.

He strapped his knife onto his stump and got a bottle of water and put it into his pocket, walking out of the house. Not noticing that someone was watching him.

Once he was about ten minutes down the road, a horse pulled up beside him, causing the young boy to jump in surprise, before realising that Maggie was riding it, holding her hand out to him. "This is a much faster way of getting around. Hop on."

He smiled gratefully, grabbing onto the older girl's hand and hopping up, carefully holding onto her as the horse raced down the road towards town. "Thanks. I wasn't looking forward to walking all that way."

"You must have walked quite a way in Savannah." Duck flinched, remembering the topic of conversation the previous night.

"I'd rather not talk about that..." Silence fell between the pair before Duck sighed for, what felt like, the millionth time today. "I'm a failure." The brunette turned back in surprise of his words.

"How could you say that?! From what I've heard, you saved that girl in there three times!" He glared at the ground in anger at himself.

"I promised her I'd stay with her in Savannah. If I had, she'd never of gotten kidnapped in the first place. I tried to make her birthday yesterday enjoyable, but we fell out of the train and she got shot. She calls me a hero...b-but I..."

"Look kid. There's only so much you can do on your own..." Maggie interrupted, looking back at him. "...but you've always been there for her. At least you TRIED to do something for her, most people wouldn't have bothered even before this all started...You KILLED a man for her! You're anything BUT a failure."

Duck looked down, contemplating her words.

* * *

After another ten minutes, the pair found themselves in the town. Luckily the place looked fairly deserted. No walkers in sight. Duck and Maggie got off the horse, Maggie tying the brown stallion up to a building.

The young boy immediately spotted a hunting store and rushed to it. Hershel said that the farm had held strong, but he will need a couple of weapons for them to defend themselves at least.

Maggie noticed him walking to said store and rushed after him, stopping him. "You don't want to go in there. There are five infected in there."

"I guess you call them infected then." Duck shrugged, walking to the front of the store and kicking the door open, causing the five said walkers to rush after him. _"She's observant...But five's pretty much nothing..." _

Thrust! One got too close and the boy stabbed it in the eye. He then noticed that this one had a knife in it's pocket. He then quickly drew it as the others got closer.

He then stuffed the new knife into the next one's eye too, leaving it in there as the walker fell, withdrawing his trusted blade from the first walker. Then two tried to get him together, both lunging at the same time.

Duck took out the one on the left while side stepping the one on the right. Then he drew back the weapon, stabbing the one that fell to the ground.

The last one limped towards him while he had his back turned, but Duck turned in time and stabbed it up the bottom of his chin, killing all five.

Maggie stood there, mouth hung open and eyes wide. Duck grinned at her, entering the store. "I killed more than that before. It's not too difficult once you get a rhythm going."

"What do you mean 'rhythm'?" She asked, following him, air-quoting the word rhythm. He picked up a pistol, wondering why this would be in a hunting store, shrugging.

"I sometimes hum the James Bond theme while fighting them. Makes me feel like I'm him and I can do anything he can do." He found a backpack and started putting ammo, guns, knives and anything he thought would be useful.

"Fair enough, but why are we here?" Duck put the pistol on safety mode and stuck it in a holster he hooked on his belt, the trousers being a bit too big for him, before turning.

"Well, I needed something other than my knife once me and Clem go to look for our group and I wanted to find something for her to use. She doesn't like guns or getting too close to them." Maggie grinned, looking to something hung on the wall.

"Well, I think I found something she'll just love." Duck looked to see what she was talking about and smiled brightly, the first real smile he had for since the train incident.

* * *

Clementine had just been bathed by Beth, as Hershel wasn't too sure she'd be able to manage by herself. Since she woke up she'd met everyone else but she noticed that Duck had gone missing. Then, five minutes later, Maggie had also gone missing.

Otis had kept apologising to her, over and over, despite her forgiving him the first time. She can't fault him, it was an accident. It wasn't in her nature to hold a grudge.

She was given some new clothes and her hat that had been cleaned of all the blood, dirt and grime that clung to it. She was happy about this, for she was afraid they'd thrown her favourite possession away.

She was sitting on the porch, happy that Hershel had sorted out her wound. Her shoulder and chest was wrapped in a lot of dressings, but it wasn't hurting as much.

She saw a horse come along with Duck and Maggie on top with a few bags and ran towards it with relief etched on her face. She had thought that Duck had gone to look for the group and abandoned her.

Duck turned and was surprised when the nine-year-old hugged him. He hugged back, being quite confused as to what she was hugging him for exactly. "Not that I don't enjoy the hugs, but what's this one for?"

"I-I'm just h-happy y-you d-didn't leave m-me..." Duck sighed, kicking himself for worrying her.

"Don't you worry. I'd never abandon you, not even if you were stuck in a room of walkers." She smiled a little at his words, despite not really believing them. No-one would do anything like that.

Maggie smiled at the cute scene in front of her. Despite what she had witnessed in the town, the young boy was still a kid and this was a picture that was worth capturing had she had a camera.

Soon Duck pulled away, smiling at her in excitement. "Oh yeah, we got you something while we were out." He said, walking over to the horse and lifting up a semi-circle, cloth wrapped package.

No matter how much Clementine likes to think she had matured after the virus, she couldn't help but get really excited. "Cool! What is it?!" Duck handed it over to the girl, who had snatched and threw the cloths away.

That was when the new weapon was revealed. It was a bow. A black, metal and plastic curved frame and a strong, elastic string. It also came with ten arrows that had a sharp, metal point and a black plastic stick with three, feather like appendages at the back.

She looked up to see Duck looking at her with a serious face. "I know you don't want to hold a gun, but you'll need to defend yourself. I figured this would suit you...Maybe Otis knows..."

"I used to love archery!" She exclaimed, excited plucking the string back. "When I was seven, in camp, I use to hit the bullseye all the time!"

"Then why'd your parents make you do soccer?" Duck mentally kicked himself for mentioning her parents. That was a bad idea!

Clementine didn't seem to notice though, while answering. "Well, they worked a lot so didn't have a lot of time with me, so when I told them about hitting the goal, they might have misunderstood."

"Oh well, it's probably best to practice anyway..." He mentioned as Maggie went inside, pulling his gun out of it's holster. A USP.45 as he'd seen on Call of Duty. He used to love that game. "...Otis said he'd take us to the prison that Lee said we were going to go before we got attacked. If they survived, they'd be there."

"When?" Clementine asked, determined to get back to the man who had looked after her like her father. _"He may as well BE my dad at this point...I should ask..." _

"Once you're up to it..." Duck said, taking her free hand and gently tugging her into the house. "...I don't want you to hurt yourself...But we'll go soon. And when we go..." Duck continued, holstering the weapon, interlocking his fingers with hers, causing her to blush and loop her other arm through the bow, holding onto her new locket.

"...we'll be ready..."

* * *

ML54: Well, this is going quite well.

Daryl: At leas' tha ha' ain' killed anyone ye'.

Rick: YET.

ML54: Please review, no flaming.


	4. Chapter 4

ML54: I apologise for the short chpter, but I'm introducing some character favourites of mine into the prison.

Shane: With the nubers this guys giving us, I think he's prepping us for war.

Lee: Don't tempt him!

ML54: I own nothing but my laptop. :(

**Michonne, the Runaway and the Prisoners**

Shane, Rick and Daryl ran along the dark corridors of the prison, stabbing walkers that got too close, heading towards the cafeteria. The three desperate to replenish the supplies lost on the train.

Prisons tend to have vasts amounts of food, especially if it it had this many prisoners.

They soon reached the door, that was chained up for some reason. "Alright, I think we can agree why this door is chained up..." Shane said, smashing it open. "Ready?"

"le's do i'!" Daryl declared kicking the doors open...

...and they came face-to-face with five prisoners sitting at one of the tables. "...um hey..." The older, white guy with the beard said, clearing the silence, looking at the three men. "...want some meatloaf?"

Rick lowered his knife and gun, his grumbling stomach jumping with joy of the mentioning of food. "I'd love some..." Shane rose an eyebrow, keeping the gun in his hand, Daryl lowering his crossbow a touch.

"Hold on Rick..." Shane narrowed his eyes at them. Being a man of the law he, straight away, didn't trust these men. "...who are you and what were you in for?" He asked as Rick shut the door behind him in case walkers came up behind him.

The bearded man cleared his throat, trying to keep both groups calm. "Well, my name's Axel. I'm in for bank robbery...but I only used a water pistol...I weren't looking to kill anyone, you follow me?" The three saw the truthfulness in his statement because, well, who'd own up to being that stupid in front of the four prisoners who were now openly laughing at him.

The Hispanic man went next after composing himself. "I'm Thomas...I'm only in here for tax evasion...Weren't gonna give money to the damn government..." Though sceptical of his claim, they accepted it for now.

The smallest, black man went next. "I'm Andrew...I'm in for drunk driving...ran over this old lady..."

Then the largest, black man went next. "The guys call me Big Tiny, but my real name's Marcus...I'm in for using drugs, I was supposed to be out three months ago though..."

Lastly, the final man, another black man, between Big Tiny and Andrew's size and bald stated. "I'm Oscar. I'm in for breaking and entering...Too bad I couldn't use those skills to get out of here..."

Shane considered each of their stories, before holstering his weapon. "Trust me, that's a stroke of luck. You wouldn't want to go out there."

"Why not?" Thomas asked, standing in front of the group, letting the three know he was their leader. "I'd would've done anything to get out of here."

"Y'all seriously don' have any idea wha's goin' on?" Daryl inquired as the prisoners invited them to the table.

"A guard locked us in here about five months ago and told us to stay put while he goes to get help..." Big Tiny said, looking into his palms sadly. "He never came back."

"Hey did you see my brother out there?!" Axel suddenly remembered, causing Thomas to glare at him for talking out of line.

"What's his name?" Shane asked, knowing he's seen no military at all...well not since Atlanta got bombed.

"His name was Malcolm Wayne. He was only a private, new recruit..." Rick paled, the fork nearly touching his lips with the meatloaf.

He sighed, putting the fork down. "He...I saw him..." The old guy looked at him hopefully, but that diminished when he saw Rick's facial expression. "He was already dead...I'm sorry..."

Axel looked down, before pushing his plate over to Big Tiny, who had finished his meal and was ready to chow down when the new plate of food found it's way in front of him. "It ain't your fault...At least I know..."

"Anyway, what's going on out there?" Thomas said, annoyed. Shane glared at the man. One of his group just found out that his brother was dead and he just doesn't seem to care. Tax avoidance, pft.

"Well...there's a virus and it's bringing the dead back to life. As these...things. They're dead but walking...for that reason we call them walkers..." Shane had started, making sure they were listening...

...not noticing the door opening.

"They try to bite you, eat you alive...and once you're bitten, you're infected with the virus...we also recently found out that it happens when you get scratched as well..."

"But why hasn't the military done anything about it?" Oscar asked, confused. Sure the government were bitches sometimes, but leaving it's people to be eaten seems over-the-top at least.

"They tried, but they fail..." A cry was heard and they looked up. Thomas had gotten up to use a bucket in the corner that the prisoners used for a toilet...

...he was bitten on his neck...surrounded by them.

"Shane! Daryl Give them a knife!" Rick ordered, handing one to Axel. Shane drew his knife and tossed it to Big Tiny, who caught it with ease and Daryl handed a gun to Andrew, handing a knife to Oscar.

They all took down the walkers with ease, now noticing that there were, like, eight of them. Rick sighed, running a hand through his hair, looking at Thomas.

"I'm sorry..." He said to the four prisoners, Andrew looking the most disheartened. "We should have checked the door was more secure..."

"Rick, why weren't they hissing?!" Shane asked, the fear in his eyes present. "That's how we usually know they're coming!"

"Maybe they're learning...Evolving?" Big Tiny asked, causing the others to look at him except Daryl and Oscar, who were on watch. "It's how we survived all these years..."

"He has a poin', man o' science are we?" Daryl asked, Big Tiny grinning back.

"I had to have something to distract me. Only had one book, others too into God to listen."

"Forget that right now." Rick declared, Shane grinning. The brief moment when he had to lead while Rick was zombified showed him that he wasn't really cut for it anymore. "You can't stay here and we can use the extra hands and food. Let's grab it all and move back to our group. We'll introduce you."

"You'd trust us that easy?" Andrew asked, looking up at them hopefully. Shane smiled at the, obviously, young man.

"I only had my suspicions on Thomas...the rest of you seem like alright characters...course you prove me wrong, I won't hesitate to kill you. I have a daughter to think of."

* * *

Glen, Carl and Sophia were patrolling around the fence, walkers pressing themselves up to the gate to try and get at them. The reason Glen and Carl were there was to reinforce the gate just in case Woodbury attacked again...

...Sophia was there because she didn't want to leave Carl just yet.

"I think we can break some of the steel tabletops to use as barricades." Glen mentioned, causing the two twelve-year-olds, who were holding hands, to look up at him. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting your date?"

"I really wouldn't call this a date." Sophia said, shrugging. "Just walking."

"Yeah...I was gonna see if there was...well...ANYTHING we could do. But...What's that?!" Carl interrupted himself, seeing a women in a hood and shroud with two walkers on chains approaching as well as a man with glasses.

Carl stood in front of Sophia while Glen pulled a weapon. The shrouded figure pointed to the gate. Glen got the point, seeing the two without gun, and went to open the gate.

Sophia stood where she was while Carl opened the gate to allow the two in, stepping away as the chained walkers stepped in.

Glen stood in front of the two, gun raised, eyebrow raise. "Who're you two?"

"Before that..." The shrouded figure said, removing the hood to reveal a black women with dread-lock style hair. "...know that we are not your enemies..."

Carl shut the gates and got to Sophia, grabbing her hand again. "Right...names would be useful."

"My name's Milton..." The white man with the glasses said, pushing them to the bridge of his nose. "...and her name's Michonne...I'm a run away from Woodbury..." At the mention of this, Carl growled dangerously, drawing his hammer. Sophia held him back though.

"He said runaway Carl...He's not with them..." Glen pointed the gun at the women.

"You too..."

"No. I'm not involved with those monsters." The women mentioned, motioning to Milton. "And he isn't anymore." Glen and Carl put their weapons away, causing Milton to let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding.

"Well, we'll let Rick and Shane decide what to do with you too..."

"...but please don't bring them!" Sophia screamed, one of them shrieking a little. Michonne shrugged, drawing a Katana from a holster on her side and sliced both their heads off.

"They served their purpose anyway...But they couldn't hurt anyone with no jaws or arms." They nodded, all three putting their weapons back and leading them up to the prison, Michonne dropping the chains to the floor.

* * *

A walker limped into the middle of the road before being run down by a military jeep on a mission, driving down the highway leaving a heavily walled and guarded fortress behind.

The jeep continued down the road, a man in full military kit, revealing only his face as a white man with a scar running from his forehead down to his lip, around his left eye. "We're leaving from base camp Charlie. This is Armadillo 0-7 moving through. Leaving to prison, West Georgia Correctional Facility. Omega squad rolling through."

A man was sat next to him in the same gear. A white man with grey hair, old looking but was staring at the walkie talkie that went dark. But the most noticable feature of him...

...he was missing an arm.

"I'm comin' to help ya little bro..." He said, the concern for his blood showing on his face. "...Or I'll die tryin'."

* * *

ML54: New faces, Military assistance, looks like things are looking up.

Daryl: He killed a guy.

ML54: No-one cares about Thomas. He was in one episode and his comic counterpart killed two kids and slashed Andrea's face.

Rick: Review him, but don't flame him.


	5. Chapter 5

ML54: Hey there guys! I just got an exciting new idea for my fic after a Biology lesson!

Rick: You're going to have new walkers?

ML54: No, but that's a good idea.

Lee: Ah Rick! Why would you say that?!

Rick: *Shrugs* I don't know...guess I just don't care anymore.

Kenny: ML54 doesn't own The Walking Dead.

**Infected?**

_3 days later_

Duck held on as Maggie ushered the horse forward through the forest, on a pathway. The pair had gone out everyday to gather supplies from areas they thought will hold supplies...

...but this time was different.

Clementine had healed quite well, so Otis had taken the other horse and let her ride with him. The ten year old smiled toward the little girl who was very excited to be riding a horse. She had wanted to after Duck and Maggie came back the first day.

Soon they approached an area with a set of train tracks and smouldering vehicles and tents. "This is it...Hopefully he's still here..." Duck sighed, hopping off his horse.

There were three walkers wandering around and, once they spotted the four, limped towards them...

...one of them wore the distinctive uniform.

"Ben..." Clementine whimpered, standing next to the slightly bigger boy. Ben was a teenager in their group but he had sacrificed himself to protect them. The girl had mentioned him the previous night and had agreed with him that they had to bury him...

...they buried their own.

Clementine pulled the string on her bow back and loaded in an arrow. She flinched and held her shoulder when it was released.

Duck put his hand to her shoulder while Maggie and Otis each got a shovel. "Are you sure you're okay, Clem?" He saw that her arrow had skimmed past Ben and had in-bedded itself into the woman next to him, killing the undead female.

"I-I'm fine..." She reassured him, loading another arrow. This time, she was able to hit her target and Ben fell, able to rest at last.

Duck then ran up to the last one and stabbed the businessman zombie through it's chin, up into it's brain. It fell without another hiss. He looked over and saw Clementine pull her arrows from the carcasses, flinching when her arm pulled back unexpectedly.

He walked over and turned her towards him, his face put on a serious expression. "Don't lie to me Clem. I know you're not okay." She looked down in shame, clutching her shoulder once she put her arrows away.

"I just wanted to be here...Ben was our friend..." Duck sighed, running his hand through his hair. He knew how stubborn the girl was, one of the reasons he likes her so much, but this was going to kill her if she wasn't careful!

"I could have brought his body back to Hershel's...I don't want you to get hurt agai...AH!" Duck cried, pushing Clementine back and turned to see a walker that he threw his knife into it's forehead.

Maggie and Otis ran back to see the boy clutching his own shoulder and Clementine getting up, looking at Duck in horror...

...four claw marks ran along his shoulders.

"NO!" Clementine screamed, hugging him from behind, crying into his neck. Maggie and Otis going to check on him.

Duck drew his hand back, seeing his blood paint his hand, horror crossing his expression. This can't be happening! He was infected AGAIN!

He fought the thoughts from his head and pulled away from Clementine, only to pull her back in when he turned around. He tried to calm her down, but with the two adults now fussing over him, that's not going to happen!

The crying, shouting and worrying was starting to grate a little, especially when they had a friend to bury and an area to get the Hell out of. "Guys!" Duck yelled after five minutes, pulling away from the girl again. "Look! We'll worry about this later! We've come here on a mission and we're going to see it through!"

Clementine looked down, clutching her locket tightly and walking past Maggie, who followed afterwards. Otis picked up Ben and him and Duck followed as well. "I'm sorry Duck...If...maybe..."

"There is no maybe, Otis." Duck said, becoming some sort of leader to these people. He doesn't know when it happened, but it sort of did. "There are no ifs, buts or anything there are here's and now's." The man nodded, solemnly, continuing on their trip.

Duck paused and looked back. It seems as if Dale and Andrea's bodies were cremated from the fire, so no need to find them. He sighed and continued with them on the way to the graves.

* * *

Fever, muscle pains, vomiting, coughing up blood...all the symptoms that the group was told were linked to infection. Doc had told them all just in case someone was bitten or scratched and didn't know it...

...and Duck felt NONE of them!

It was, as strange as it seems, quite frustrating. He knew that walker had scratched him! Clementine saw! But he feels fine and it's been an hour!

He was with Otis, on his horse, while Clementine was on Maggie's horse with her. He looked towards her, seeing tears streaming down her face. He turned away, not being able to look at her like this. How could he have let this happen?! He was all she had!

When they got back, Beth, Hershel and Patricia met them on the porch. Otis went to take the horses back while Maggie told the three what happened and why Clementine ran past them all, crying.

Duck felt all the sympathetic looks on him and snarled. They shouldn't waste their sympathy. "We all know it's going to happen sooner or later...for me it was sooner." He turned and walked off towards the woods.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Beth. "Where are you going? Maybe Hershel can help." Duck shrugged her hand off and shook his head.

"Even if he could cut the scratch off, it's been there too long. I'm infected and I'll turn, I'm just making sure I won't bite any of you..." He turned to Hershel. "Tell Clem...tell her why I'm doing this...and make sure she knows it's not her fault..." The old man nodded, putting a hand on Beth's shoulder to stop her going after him.

"God bless you, Duck." He smiled back softly, walking into the forest.

"It's Kenny Jr." The boy replied, running now...knowing exactly where he was going.

* * *

"_WHAT KIND OF LOUSY VIRUS DID I GET ANYWAY?!" _Duck raged out in his head, taking a drink of water through a canteen on his belt. _"It's been about three hours!" _

The viruses he's seen before have all taken effect right away! His has got a Hell of a delayed reaction.

He put the canteen on his belt again once he saw an eerily familiar farm on the path ahead. _"St. John's Dairy..." _

He figured, since he's pretty much dead already, that he'd get some revenge on these people and what they had done. They killed Mark and Larry, made them eat Mark and shot his dad.

Duck had killed a man before so he knows he's going to Hell. Might as well take as many bad people as he could with him.

He heard some rustling behind him and hid in the bushes...that's when he saw Danny...

And the blue shirted man was dragging an unconscious women with him.

The women was wearing an orange and grey hoodie and blue jeans. Danny was holding a backpack which, he presumed, belonged to the women.

He saw Danny meet up with Andy at the front. He looked and noticed Danny had a bad limp, probably when he had fallen into that bear trap. Kenny Jr. smirked to himself, this'll be easy.

"Good, new meat. Put her in the freezer with the other two." He heard Andy say to Danny. Good, they were splitting up.

Andy went into the house while Danny went to the Barn, so Duck followed Danny, pulling his gun from it's holster.

As soon as Danny opened the meat locker he heard a knocking on one of the walls. He sighed in irritation and walked out of the locker.

He was stunned, however, when he saw the one-handed, kid banging on the wall with his stump arm, pointing his gun at Danny. "Remember me, fuck bucket?"

"Um...should I?" Duck snarled, venomously, shooting the man in the knee.

Danny cried out, clutching the wound. "Yes! I'm Duck, the kid you fed a human to!" Danny looked up to see the barrel of Duck's weapon in front of his face. "And I've waited too long for this..." After that, Duck finished the job and killed Danny.

He looked up and saw the women from before stir and two other people trying to wake her up. Another women and a slightly shorter man. The women had a purple jacket and the man a brown one, both wearing blue jeans.

They looked back at him and then the dead man at his feet. "Ah man! That kid just saved us!" The man said, the other women waking up finally.

"I guess you're right...Bless the Lord." The women said, approaching Duck. "Thank you very much..."

"Don't thank me until it's over." They heard the door getting kicked open and turned to find Andy St. John standing there with a rifle pointed at them.

"Where..." He glanced down and saw his brother in a pool of his own blood. "Danny!"

"Don't worry!" Duck yelled, running and pushing the rifle out of his hands. Andy recognised the kid and his face paled, remembering what they put this kid through. "You, Danny and your mom are about to be reunited!"

As soon as he shouted that, he thrusted his blade into Andy's head, killing him...

But that didn't stop him, as soon as his blade was free, he thrust it in again...and again and again.

Tears stung Duck's eyes as he kept stabbing the dead man, feeling two of the people trying to get him off of the man, telling him that Andy was dead. The boy knew the man was dead, he was just letting out all of his anger, his stress...

...his failure.

He was dead. He was going to die and leave Clementine alone.

But if that was true, he'd have at least felt a symptom by now. The realisation shocked him enough to be allowed to be pulled off of Andy and calmed down by the three adults.

"Man, you okay? You went crazy there." The man asked, having been worried by the boy's behaviour.

"Let's just say this isn't the first time I met those ass holes." The ten year old said, getting up and brushing his front in an attempt to wipe the blood off of himself, despite just spreading the blood. "My name's Kenny Jr. But most people call me Duck."

"Well Duck, my name's Omid..." The man introduced himself to the boy and new women, then indicated to the other women next to him. "...and this is Christa."

"And I'm Molly." The last women said, picking up her backpack and taking out an icepick and a chocolate bar. She then handed it to him. "Here, my way of thanks."

Duck smiled, taking the bar and pocketing it, not feeling too hungry. "Thanks..." Now that he was sure he wasn't infected, he could get back to Hershel's farm...but...

"You should come with me. I'm staying at a place and I'm sure we could use a hand. In return I'm sure Hershel will let you stay."

"You bet." Omid agreed almost immediately, Christa nodding in agreement, clutching her stomach. "We need to find a place to settle soon."

"I've got no where else to go. So I guess I could lend a hand." Molly also agreed. The four then headed back to where Duck had come from. Back to Hershel's.

* * *

Clementine laid, face-down on the bed that the Greene's had given her, crying into her pillow. She couldn't believe that Duck, her best friend, her hero, was going to die.

"It's my fault!" She screamed into her pillow to muffle her voice. "If I'd just stayed here! He wouldn't have been looking at me when the walker came!"

She heard a knock on her door and considered telling them to go away, but she was too polite to do so. _"Damn me and my niceness!" _"Come in..." She sighed, sitting up.

Beth walked in with a glass of water, putting it on the night stand. "How are you doing?" The nine year old looked down and drew her knees up to her chin, wrapping her arms around them.

"Lousy..."

"I know you and him are close. Very close." Beth said, slyly. Clementine looked up at her, raising an eyebrow at the sixteen year old.

"What are you saying?" Beth facepalmed herself. Guess she's going to have to be blunt.

"You like him, don't you?" The child blinked then released her legs and leaned back a bit.

"Of course I do. He's my best friend." Beth rolled her eyes, grinning. She loves to get these reactions from her friends.

"No, you LIKE like him." Clementine still looked confused so Beth had to be REALLY blunt. "You're in love with him."

"WHAT?!" Clementine shouted, jumping to her feet, clutching her locket. Where did Beth get THAT idea?! "Why would you say that?!"

"Well...I'm very good at reading people. Their facial features, their tone of voice. And your's takes a certain change everytime Duck is near. You're a lot happier, you always stand next to him as close as you can, which is quite close, and you always take his side in an argument. Like last night when Hershel tried to give him the other spare room, but he refused to protect you from POSSIBLE infected."

If Clementine was blushing before, she felt like a volcano now! She didn't even realise she was doing these things! But...She kissed his cheek and held his hand quite often as well, sometimes for no real reason. And she WAS confused with what he was feeling for him back at Savannah.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts..." Beth said, walking out of the room, accidentally bumping into Otis who was carrying several bottles of something. One of the bottles had fallen out of his arms and rolled into Clementine's room, bumping into her feet as Beth closed the door, apologising to Otis.

Clementine, without really thinking, picked up the bottle and drunk some of it, thinking it was water. She then felt a burning sensation in her throat and took the bottle away from her mouth. About half of it was gone.

She felt a little light headed and giggly after a little bit. She felt a lot better about herself.

She dropped the bottle and took a step towards the door, but tripped over and landed on her face. Now, usually, that would hurt a lot, but Clementine shrugged it off and continued on her way, skipping to the kitchen for a snack.

The bottle left in the room with a label that read 'Vodka'.

* * *

Kenny: MY SON IS DEAD!

ML54: Not yet. Please review, no flaming!


	6. Chapter 6

ML54: Time for a happy chapter and the mid season finale.

Carl: Does that matter?

ML54: Nope.

Glen: *Rolls eyes* ML54 doesn't own the walking dead.

**Search and Found**

Daryl led Axel, Michonne, Glen, Lee and Oscar through the forest towards the train wreck, hoping to find some sort of indication that Duck and Clementine were there...

...or at least find some surviving supplies.

"Look, maybe we should check the surrounding area for those Woodbury guys you mentioned, you follow me?" Axel mentioned, glancing around uneasily. Glen nodded, clutching his gun tighter.

"Yeah...We don't want to be losing anyone else..." Daryl glanced back and saw five worried looking faces and sighed.

"Alrigh'. Me an' Lee will search roun' tha lef', Glen an' Michonne will check roun' tha righ'. Once we're done, we'll move to tha middle and you two can move to tha train." They agreed to the plan and split up, Oscar and Axel had ducked behind the shrubs while the other four moved to sweep the area.

* * *

Glen and Michonne had ducked under a fallen tree when they saw two men holding AK-47s walking through, openly laughing at what they had caused. Glen's eyes hardened, remembering the pained expression on Doc's face as he had to end his friend's life...

Glen stood and shot the first man in the head, causing the other to turn in time for his head to get sliced clean off his shoulder's by Michonne's Katana. "Those two fuck buckets have no right to be laughing about this...They killed two people."

"You don't need to justify yourself to me Glen." Michonne replied, throwing him one of the men's AKs. "I already know that these men are sick."

"Yeah..." Glen said, remembering what Milton told the group when he, Carl and Sophia escorted Michonne and Milton inside.

* * *

_The whole group gathered and got some food, Kenny was on a table with Lee supporting him on one side next to him. Michonne and Milton sat in the middle with Rick and Shane opposite them. "Well...welcome to the prison."_

"_I'm impressed." Milton mentioned, looking around seeing the large group. Nineteen people, not including himself and Michonne. "You've got a lot of people, and have done something the Governor has tried to do for months. Clear this prison."_

"_It weren't too difficult." Shane mentioned, flipping the penny Rick gave him yesterday. "Just good old fashion team work." _

"_That's a good trait...one Woodbury will never understand." Milton sighed, putting his head into his hands. "They...I was a researcher in Woodbury, trying to find a way to cure and/or prevent this...whatever it is. But I've got next to nothing right now."_

"_What did they do?" Rick asked, curious about what Milton was going to say before he interrupted himself. Milton took his glasses off and ran his arm across his closed eyes, drying his tears._

"_They...T-they decided that keeping families in their grounds was too risky...The ch-children are more susceptible to illness...Being a drain on resources...All the people th-that weren't in the army...w-were killed..." _

_Shane grit his teeth and Rick clenched his fists. This would be why they derailed the train. They were going to steal their supplies but realised that their army couldn't stop the train, so decided to kill them instead._

"_They won't attack here though. You chose a good place." Michonne mentioned, also looking around. "They would never look for us here."_

"_This is only temporary before we can find two kids that went missing a few hours ago." Rick said, looking at her smirking. "And who said we'd let you stay?"_

_Most people would be scared of having to be thrown out of a safe place with a group of people like this, but Michonne saw through Rick's little game. "Well, I can help search for the kids and supplies, and Milton can continue to research the walkers. He has more that he thinks he does."_

* * *

The group had now finished the search and met back up to check the area for remaining supplies...

...before they heard a rustling noise.

"Ge' down!" Daryl hissed, quietly. The group all hid behind various pieces of shrapnel and peered out to see an overweight man and a brunette women packing the back of a truck with some canned food that survived the crash.

"Hard to believe the sheer amount of stuff that survived, huh Otis?" The women said to the man, handing him a box of canned meats. Lee and Daryl nodded to each other, thinking they from Woodbury.

"Yeah..." Otis replied, pathetically. Glen now glanced over and spotted the brunette. His heart, he swears, had just skipped a beat at the sight of her. But then, he remembered, she was the enemy.

"What's up, big guy?" Daryl was just about to pull the trigger, but Lee stopped him when he heard Otis's reply.

"I just can't believe what happened to Duck." Lee sprang out from behind cover before anyone could stop him, causing Otis and Maggie to draw their weapons.

"Did you just say Duck? Did you find Clementine too?!" Lee asked, causing the two to look to each other, before lowering their weapons.

"You Lee?" Otis asked, causing the African-American man to nod and the others, now knowing their not in danger, to reveal themselves as well. "Well you're in luck. Clementine is at Hershel's right now."

"Hershel Greene? What happened? I thought we were banished." Maggie decided to tell the six people the situation.

"Well, there was a hunting accident and Clementine got shot..."

"WHAT?!" Lee cried in horror, causing Otis to look down in shame.

"Don't worry she's alive. Duck and Otis got her to Hershel and Duck gave out his blood to save her...but...Duck's not on the farm now."

"Why no'?" Daryl asked, slinging his crossbow onto his back.

"He...H-he got scratched by a walker when we went to bury this kid called Ben." Lee blinked twice, processing the information, then fell over backwards.

"No...No no no no... Kenny can't...Where is he?" Maggie looked back at the truck and nodded.

"Look, we'll take you to the farm and see Clementine. She means a lot to you and maybe it'll be easier for you to talk to her." Lee nodded, mutely. Daryl then pushed Glen forward, causing the man to stumble forward.

"You go wit' 'em Glen. Me an' tha others will tell tha res' wha's goin' on." Glen nodded and walked over to Lee, walking with him into the truck next to all the supplies.

* * *

Patricia was talking to Jimmy out on the porch, it being about seven at night, when she soon spotted four people coming this way. "Jimmy! It's Duck!" She declared, pointing to said one handed boy.

"Right! I'll meet them and you go tell Hershel and find Clementine and Beth." He said, taking off down the road. She nodded and went inside to find them.

"Duck! I thought you went to steer clear off us?" He smiled back, indicating to the three behind him.

"Well, it's been about seven hours and no symptoms have shown. So I guess the walker didn't break enough skin. Plus I found three new people who need something to eat and a place to stay."

"DUCK!" He turned to see Clementine race, happily, towards the boy, stumbling on the few steps of the porch. Duck walked towards her more calmly then her erratic and not-so-thought out pace.

She tripped over a twig once they were in front of each other so, in a panic, the boy wrapped his arms around her and she fell on top of him.

Clementine giggled to herself while Duck groaned a bit, having hit his head on the earth. He was lucky they were in the grass rather than the gravel driveway at least. "Hey handsome."

The boy blinked at her sudden forwardness, blushing in embarrassment. "Um...hi?" He replied. The little girl stared at him for a bit, before leaning in closer, causing the boy, in a panic, lean back.

"You got something on your face, cutie." She purred, licking her thumb and rubbing his cheek in an affectionate manner. She wiped some blood off his cheek, which probably belonged to Andy St. John.

"U-um...t-thanks..." He replied, starting to get really nervous. Why was Clementine acting like this? Where did the shy one go? And, more importantly of all, WHY WAS EVERYONE JUST WATCHING?!

He glanced at them and sighed in his head. He knew why now! They thought this was cute! And, well, he guesses he can't blame them. His mom used to love it when him and Clementine just played together! This was taking it to a whole new level!

Clementine looked at her thumb before rubbing it on her shirt, given to her by Beth, and grinning down at him. "You been on another mission, 007?" The boy was starting to sweat a bit, his face flushing further.

Maybe she's lost it!

She leaned in even further, causing him to try and sink even further down, before realising that his head was pressed against the ground. He was starting to get light headed and his heart was hammering away against his ribcage and the butterflies in his stomach would not calm the fuck down!

"Well..." She breathed, leaning in even closer so their noses were now pressed together. "...I've got an award for your services..." Duck could now see what had happened...or he could smell what had happened...

...she was drunk!

Before he could say another word, Clementine finally closed the gap and kissed him.

Duck's eyes widened and glanced around for help before the girl fell limp on him, her face falling to his shoulder. A light snore was heard.

He looked up for any sign of life, not being able to move without waking the girl up. Then, after about thirty seconds he announced. "Err, little help, please?" Beth walked over and, carefully picked the girl up, allowing Duck to get up on his own.

"I'll take her to bed." Beth let out a cheer in her head. These kids can stop beating around the bush and just get together now.

Duck walked to Hershel, who was grinning at him. "Quite the lady magnet, aren't we?" Duck looked down, blushing badly.

"C-Clementine...Do you have alcohol in the house?" Hershel nodded, confused. "Clem was drunk."

"What?! I thought I had Otis mo...oh he must have dropped one and not noticed. Sorry..." Duck ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

"You can apologise to Clementine once she wakes up. She'll have a hell of a hangover. Hopefully she won't remember what just happened." He then saw the other three grinning at him and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his hand. "Oh yeah. This is Omid, Christa and Molly. I found them being held captive and freed them. I was hoping you'd take them in."

"Well...I guess I could let you stay here for a little bit. But you'll have to pull your own weight around here." The three agreed and were lead in by Patricia and Jimmy, leaving Duck and Hershel alone.

"Why are you hoping she won't remember this? You like her, don't you?" Duck nodded, furiously.

"I love that girl to death! And trust me, if it were any other situation I'd have jumped at the chance to kiss her. But...it's just that...that was her first kiss. I don't want her first kiss to be a drunken mistake." Just then, they heard a car pull up in the drive way.

"Duck!" The young boy turned to the familiar voice, before seeing Lee running up to him and hugging him, strangely enough. In confusion, Duck hugged back. "Am I glad you're here!"

"Lee..." The man looked up and saw Hershel facing him, smiling. "...Clementine's inside, sleeping. It's best to let her rest."

"Why? It's not that late." Lee asked as Maggie, Otis and Glen walked round to the front as well. Maggie had spotted Duck and hugged him as well. She had a soft spot for him like a little brother of some description.

"What am I, some sort of teddy bear?" The boy grinned, hugging back briefly before she let go of him. Hershel ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"Well, Clementine must have drunk some of the alcohol while staying with us cause she was drunk earlier..." Lee's jaw had just dropped open at the news, then Duck used his hand to close it again.

"Since you lot are here, I can give you a lift back to where you're staying in the morning..."

"Maybe we should give Clem some time to get over the hangover." Duck interrupted Otis, reminding him what happened. "Then you could give us a lift."

* * *

Lee walked into Clem's room and sat in chair next to her bed the next morning. He saw that Duck was asleep on the chair next to her and smiled to himself. Duck had told him that the walker scratch didn't dig deep enough to infect him, so he was clear of infection.

After that, Hershel had offered him and Glen use of the bathroom and a change of clothes. To which the two jumped at the chance of a wash. It was so long since he was able to clean himself. And those clothes he was wearing had literally peeled off of his skin.

He saw the bow and arrow next to her bed and was a little confused. When did she get that? Had she used it?

He ended his mind argument when he saw Clementine start to wake up. Then she hissed slightly as the sun from the curtains got into her eyes, putting her free hand on her forehead. "Ow..."

"You okay, Sweet Pea?" Clementine's eyes shot open and saw Lee sitting there with a smile on his face. Her eyes teared up slightly and a huge grin spread on her face.

"LEE!" She cried, throwing her arms around him, forgetting to let go of Duck's hand before so, and the boy was pulled into the bed and hit his head on the bed.

"OW!" Duck shouted as his head connected to the wooden floor. "Well...That's one way to wake up in the morning..."

* * *

ML54: Just to end on a happy note.

Rick: We all know that's not going to last long.

ML54: Reviewing, no flaming!


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